Seeking out the
5000 greatest films
in a century of cinema
13th
Directed by
Ava DuVernay
Produced by Ava DuVernay, Howard Barish, and Spencer Averick
Written by Ava DuVernay and Spencer Averick
Produced by Ava DuVernay, Howard Barish, and Spencer Averick
Written by Ava DuVernay and Spencer Averick
With:
Michelle Alexander, Cory Booker, Dolores Canales, Gina Clayton, Jelani Cobb, Malkia Cyril, Angela Davis, Craig DeRoche, David Dinkins, Baz Dreisinger, Kevin Gannon, Henry Louis Gates, Marie Gottschalk, Newt Gingrich, Lisa Graves, Cory Greene, John Hagan, Michael Hough, Van Jones, David Keene, James Kilgore, Glenn E. Martin, Marc Mauer, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Pat Nolan, Grover Norquist, Dorsey Nunn, Liza Jessie Peterson, Charles Rangel, Kyung-Ji Rhee, Shaka Senghor, Bob Sloan, Deborah Small, Bryan Stevenson, Ken Thompson, Nicholas Turner, and Daniel Wagner
Cinematography:
Hans Charles and Kira Kelly
Editing: Spencer Averick
Music: Jason Moran
Editing: Spencer Averick
Music: Jason Moran
Runtime:
100 min
Release Date: 07 October 2016
Aspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1
Color: Color
Release Date: 07 October 2016
Aspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1
Color: Color
Twitter Capsule:
Ava DuVernay's documentary explores the history of racial inequality in the US through the lens of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. The film argues that that exception has filled America's prisons disproportionally with African Americans and built a prison industrial complex that profits off the labor of incarcerated black men. The film should be a slam dunk, but this rushed, sloppy, preaching-to-the-choir production is so randomly structured and pretentiously photographed and distractingly edited that it undercuts its powerful, undeniable thesis.